Obama Gives Historic Scoop to Robin Roberts

Robin Roberts did not really need anchor Diane Sawyer's confirmation on ABC's "World News With Diane Sawyer" later Wednesday, when she told viewers that Roberts' interview with President Obama was historic. The co-host of ABC's "Good Morning America" knew the magnitude of her scoop.

The buzz had been building since Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he supported same-sex marriage. Press Secretary Jay Carney was barraged the next day with questions. The buzz reached a crescendo after ABC announced that Roberts would interview Obama in the White House. Roberts interrupted her New York plans to travel there.

After Obama told Roberts in the Cabinet Room interview that same-sex marriage should be legal, becoming the first sitting president to say so, Roberts completed the interview, then ducked a question from her fellow reporters. She was hurrying to do a live report outside the mansion.

Roberts told an inquiring April D. Ryan of American Urban Radio Network, "I asked him about a wide range of issues," then covered her head. She and her White House colleague Jake Tapper delivered their live report for ABC as some 20 journalists were camped out under a riser in the White House driveway. "Everybody was going out there to see what she had to say. They knew this was a historic event," Ryan said.

It was a noteworthy day for Roberts, 51, a former ESPN reporter who joined ABC News 10 years ago. Jeffrey W. Schneider, senior vice president and spokesman for ABC News, said Roberts was not available to discuss its personal significance, but Brian Stelter of the New York Times tweeted Thursday that when the interview was replayed on "Good Morning America," Roberts said, "I'm getting chills again."

"The president would conduct an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts, during which he would explain how he came to take the final step in an 18-month-long evolution of his stance on marriage equality.

"The White House had preferred to break the news in such a setting from the get-go. Now, however, it had to be done rapidly and with some secrecy. . . . By Tuesday,The White House had notified ABC that Obama wanted to do a sit-down. White House aides were instructed to tell not a single outside stakeholder in the gay rights debate about the forthcoming announcement."

Schneider said he could not discuss whether ABC had acceded to a White House request for Roberts. "We have a standing request to interview the president from all of our anchors," he said.

Just as President Obama's views on marriage between two people of the same gender have evolved, so have the terms used to describe the phenomenon.

What many in the media had called "gay marriage," then "same-sex marriage," is now joined by a term preferred by its advocates: "marriage equality."

"Marriage equality is definitely the term being used more frequently and it seems to make sense," David A. Steinberg, copy desk chief at the San Francisco Chronicle and president of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, told Journal-isms by email. "Our style book advises only to use same-sex marriage rather than 'gay marriage,' as that implies a different type of institution.

" 'Marriage equality' conveys the information in a straightforward way. That's what people have been pushing for — equality. Nothing other than what straight couples already have access to. Not a 'gay marriage,' as if that were different than a 'heterosexual marriage.' Folks argue that it's all just marriage. NLGJA initially recommended using a phrase such as 'marriage for same-sex couples' because the key point was it was just marriage not a separate type of marriage. Of course phrasing like that doesn't work if you're trying to write a headline."

" 'It hit us pretty hard,' Dickey said in his quarterly call with financial analysts. 'A couple of million bucks in the first quarter and a couple of million bucks in quarter two.' "

". . . Cumulus' statement is the first that puts a dollar figure on the boycott's effect. But it comes with an interesting side note.

"Limbaugh is heard on more than 600 stations and only 38 of them are owned by Cumulus. So while the Cumulus outlets include cornerstones like WABC in New York, this suggests the total impact of the boycott on all radio station owners exceeded just the Cumulus loss.

"Limbaugh himself was relatively unaffected in any direct way, since he is paid through a long-term contract with his syndicator, Premiere."

Suzette Hackney, a staff writer at Detroit Free Press and an African American, is the sole U.S. journalist of color in the Knight-Wallace Fellows program at the University of Michigan for the 2012-13 academic year, program director Charles Eisendrath told Journal-isms on Wednesday.

". . . this year we had two black applicants and took one," Eisendrath said by email.

". . . The number of applications from African Americans was down, which I regret. We had nine minority applications overall (2 black, 3 Hispanic, 4 Asian), made three offers and were turned down by two who went elsewhere."

The program named 12 American and seven international journalists to the incoming class this week.

Hackney plans to study "enhancing traditional journalism with technology." In November, the Free Press ran a series by Hackney and photographer Romain Blanquart, "Living With Murder."

According to a news release, "While on leave from regular duties, Knight-Wallace Fellows pursue customized sabbatical studies and attend twice-weekly seminars at Wallace House, a gift from the late newsman Mike Wallace and his wife Mary. . . . Knight-Wallace Fellows receive a stipend of $70,000 for the eight-month academic year plus full tuition and healthcare insurance."

Seven of the 13 U.S. recipients of the John S. Knight Fellowships at Stanford University announced last week are people of color, a development that James R. Bettinger, director of the program, attributed to working "very hard to broaden our outreach to journalists of color, especially those involved in untraditional news media ventures."

The Nieman Fellowship program at Harvard University announced an incoming U.S. class with two self-identified Hispanics, an "Asian-American and white/Caucasian" and no African Americans.

The mid-career fellowships provide full tuition and a living stipend of $50,000 for experienced journalists to take graduate courses at Columbia's Schools of Business, Law, and International and Public Affairs, the university said in an April 25 news release.

The journalist of color in the group is Nandagopal Jayakumar Nair, 28, assistant news editor for CNBC-TV18 in Mumbai, India. "In charge of driving editorial content, he heads the news channel’s 14-member evening desk team and oversees production of shows, including India Business Hour, What's Hot, and Markets Today. He is part of the core team that is establishing CNBCTV18's online presence via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the channel's website – moneycontrol.com," the announcement says.

"I love diversity and this year we had the most diverse class ever," Thompson said by email. ". . . it was one of the best classes in the Knight-Bagehot Program's 36 year history. But I don't discriminate against non-minorities and for the 2012-2013 academic year the best applicants just happened to be white. Although, I must say, it is quite ethnically and culturally diverse; we have folks coming in from India, France, Greece and even Michigan! I'd love to reach the readers of your column and invite the best of those who cover business and economics to apply for the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship at www.jrn.columbia.edu/knight-bagehot. Please spread the word."

"Naomi Schaefer Riley, a lecturer and author who wrote for the Chronicle's blog, Brainstorm, was let go after readers pushed back on an essay she published last week titled 'The Most Persuasive Case For Eliminating Black Studies? Just Read the Dissertations.'

"Riley's essay responded to a sidebar of a story in the Chronicle which profiled several up-and-coming black studies scholars in the process of writing dissertations. Riley looked at the titles of the dissertations — on subjects like the role of race in housing policy and the history of black midwifery in the United States — and called them 'left-wing victimization claptrap.'

"Nearly 6,500 people signed a petition calling for her dismissal from the blog. Yesterday, Liz McMillen, the site's editor, wrote a note apologizing for Riley's post, and said that the publication had decided to part ways with the author, who is also an affiliate scholar of the Institute of American Values, a conservative think tank based in New York."

". . . Champion's case had become a cause célèbre among the Black e-telligentsia, Black gossip blogs and news portals. After Champion's parents announced that their late son was gay? Not so much.

"Reporting on the case virtually disappeared across Black cyberspace between January and May 2012. Several outlets — such as The Grio — published the AP's report on Champion's sexuality and never mentioned it again until last week's announcement that 13 people had been charged in connection with his death, most facing felony hazing counts. Just as well, because many of the posted comments around Champion's sexuality were hatefully heartbreaking. . . "

"Political Neighbors" opened this week at El Taller Latino Americano in New York, Arturo Conde wrote this week for Univision, offering Americans "a glimpse of the political cartoons of three Mexican master artists: Eduardo del Río (Rius), Felipe Galindo (Feggo), and Rafael Barajas Durán (El Fisgón.) . . . the panels of these Mexican artists compel viewers to question their own principles and awaken a deeper sense of consciousness."

"JET® Magazine will host its first-ever open casting call for its JET Beauty® of the Week franchise," the magazine announced Tuesday. "The casting call will be held in Atlanta, Ga. and co-hosted by 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' co-star Cynthia Bailey, chief executive officer, The Bailey Agency School of Fashion this Saturday, May 12, noon-3 p.m. Mitzi Miller, editor in chief, JET, Cynthia Bailey and a special invited celebrity guest will be on hand to judge the women." For more information, email JETcastingbow (at) gmail.com.

"FAIR's recent study of the Sunday morning network shows documented a distinct right-wing bias in the guestlists," Peter Hart wrote Monday for Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting. ". . . Since the study was released, [the] left-leaning commentator/TV host Tavis Smiley has been on two shows, CBS's 'Face the Nation' (4/22/12) and ABC's 'This Week' (5/6/12). The latter showed how a guest like Smiley can broaden the discussion — at one point he invoked Martin Luther King's critique of militarism to talk about current U.S. policy. And he talked about poverty. . . ."

As commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War continues, C-SPAN3 plans to air a discussion of the contributions of African American women during the Civil War. The speaker is Hari Jones, curator and assistant director of the African American Civil War Memorial Freedom Foundation and Museum in Washington. The program airs Saturday at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern time and 11 a.m. Sunday.